Methods and apparatus for managing information on activities of an enterprise

ABSTRACT

A system for maintaining various information representative of activities of an enterprise having four components. The first component creates the information including project data, subproject data, task data, and employee data. The second component stores the project data, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data. The third component creates non-hierarchical relationship keys among the project data, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data stored by the storing means; and the fourth component updates the project data, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data stored by the storing means and for updating the relationship keys among the project elements, the subproject elements, the task elements, and the employee elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to aligning the activities of an enterprise bymanaging abstract representations of the enterprise's activities in adatabase. The invention facilitates the management of abstractrepresentations of activities of an enterprise through a singleenterprisewide database that models the activities of the enterprise.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Enterprises (e.g., corporations and public and private agencies) aretypically staffed using hierarchies with people assigned to differentmanagement levels having responsibilities corresponding to theirmanagement levels. Some people, called corporate officers or strategicplanners, develop strategic plans or goals for the enterprise that areimplemented by executive and lower management as well as other lowerlevel employees executing various tasks. Examples of strategic plansare: to enter the telecommunications business and to enter the personalcomputer business.

After the strategic planners identify strategic plans, they communicatethe plans to, for example, executive management. The executive managers,using the strategic plans, identify products (or services) that may fitinto and accomplish goals set by the planner' strategic plans. In theexample of a strategic plan to enter the telecommunications business, anexample service might be to build a telephone switching network; whilethe strategic plan for entering the personal computer business mightcall for identifying products such as a type of display and a personalcomputer platform.

The executive managers then communicate the selected product (orservice) information to lower management, for example, project managerswho manage lower level employees. The project managers specify projectsfor each product, and assign certain lower level employees to one ormore projects. For example, building a telephone switching network wouldinclude projects like identifying a location for the network andselecting components to be used in the network. Manufacturing LCD andCRT monitors and Intel and PowerPC microprocessor-based personalcomputer platforms are examples of projects for the personal computerbusiness strategic plan.

The project managers also identify tasks relating to each project, andassign lower level employees to perform the tasks. Tasks in theexemplary personal computer business might include building circuitboards for the Intel microprocessor-based personal computer platform,and tasks for the exemplary telecommunications business might includepurchasing examples of components capable of being used in a telephoneswitching network.

In a typical enterprise environment the lower level employees inform theproject managers of their progress on tasks for assigned projects, andthe project managers provide updated information on the progress ofprojects to the executive managers who in turn provide updatedinformation on the progress of products to the corporate officers orstrategic planners. Because of this type of hierarchical staffingstructure, conventional project management systems, for example, PROJECTFOR WINDOWS™ (manufactured by MICROSOFT Corporation of Seattle, Wash.,U.S.A.), manage information (or data) in a logically hierarchicalfashion. Furthermore, these conventional project management systems usea hierarchical approach to manage information on only a subset of theactivities of an enterprise. Thus, they permit only activity informationon projects and subprojects to be related to activity information ontasks. The task activity information includes the identity of theemployee(s) assigned to the task. Activity information on projects canbe tracked as accretions of subproject activity information and taskactivity information, and the task activity information subsequentlytracked by activity information on the employee assigned to perform eachtask. This relationship of activity information for tasks, subprojects,and projects is illustrated in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, the elements 10-30 represent activity information relating tolower order activities of an enterprise that is managed in a logicallyhierarchical fashion by conventional project management systems. Theactivity information on the projects 10 is keyed (or linked) to theactivity information on subprojects 20 with an arrow pointing toward thesubprojects 20. The arrow indicates that one or more of the subprojects20 may be related to only one of the projects 10. Similarly, theactivity information on subprojects 20 is linked to the activityinformation for tasks 30 with an arrow pointing toward the activityinformation for tasks 30 to indicate that one or more of the tasks 30may be related only to one of the subprojects 20. The activityinformation for each one of the tasks 30 includes the identity of theemployee assigned to the task as well as the amount of time estimatedfor performing the task.

With these conventional project management systems, however, activityinformation on tasks 30 of projects 10 cannot be related to activityinformation on higher order activities, i.e., other tasks which relateto other subprojects 20 or to other projects 10. For instance, activityinformation on the project involved with evaluating construction bidsfor a light bulb manufacturing facility cannot be related to activityinformation on the enterprise's strategy to enter the light bulbmanufacturing business. Due to disconnects such as this, it isimpossible to relate activity information on the enterprise's othertasks and associated people with other higher-order activities usingconventional project management systems.

Another drawback with conventional project management systems is that,by treating each project as an individual, unconnected (or unrelated)object, it is extremely hard to answer questions such as: identify allprojects a particular individual is currently working on? As describedwith reference to FIG. 1, activity information on tasks 30 includes theidentity of employees assigned to each task as well as the amount oftime estimated for performing the task. Thus, to identify all projects10 an individual is committed to work on using conventional projectmanagement systems would require a search of the activity informationfor all tasks 30.

Another example of a relationship that cannot be represented in anyconventional project management system that represents activityinformation using logical, hierarchical relationships exclusively, iswhen two higher order activities, for example, strategies, are relatedto the same lower order activity, for example, a project. For instance,one enterprise strategy may involve entering the light bulbmanufacturing factory, while another may involve the manufacture oflights and the need to purchase large amounts of light bulbs. Clearly,someone at a high position in the staff of a hierarchically organizedenterprise would know about both strategies, and could ensure thatactivities for the two strategies are aligned. However, conventionalproject management systems are not able to represent all theinterrelationships of the activity information for the strategies andother higher-order activities with all of the lower-order activities.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an enterprisemanagement system that obviates one or more of the problems due tolimitations and disadvantages of the related art.

Features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in thedescription which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized andattained by the method and apparatus particularly pointed out in thewritten description and claims thereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve the objects of this invention and attain its advantages,broadly speaking, this invention maintains various informationrepresentative of activities of an enterprise using four components. Thefirst component is a means for creating the information includingstrategy data, product data, project data, subproject data, task data,and employee data. The second component is a means for storing thestrategy data, the product data, the project data, the subproject data,the task data, and the employee data. The third component is a means forcreating non-hierarchical relationship keys among the strategy data, theproduct data, the project data, the subproject data, the task data, andthe employee data stored by the storing means; and the fourth componentis a means for updating the strategy data, the product data, the projectdata, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data storedby the storing means and for updating the relationship keys among thestrategy data, the product data, the project elements, the subprojectelements, the task elements, and the employee elements.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings which are incorporated in and which constitutepart of this specification, illustrate a presently preferred embodimentand implementation of the invention and, together with the description,serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is block diagram illustrating activity information managed byconventional project management systems (prior art);

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating activity information managed by thepreferred implementation of the present invention and theinterrelationships between the activity information;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the components of an enterpriseusing the preferred implementation of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary workstation orplatform in which the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 5 is a diagram used to illustrate example elements of activityinformation and relationships between the elements that may be stored inthe database of FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the steps used by the relationshipmanager of FIGS. 3 and 4 to manage the activity information (includingrelationships) in the database; and

FIG. 7 is block diagram illustrating activity information managed byanother preferred implementation of the present invention and theinterrelationships between the activity information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred implementations ofthe present invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.Whereever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughoutthe drawings and the following description to refer to the same or likeparts.

To successfully align all activities of an enterprise, includinghigher-order activities (like strategies, and products) and lower-orderactivities (like projects, subprojects, tasks, and employees), anenterprise management system must manage abstract representations(activity information or data) of all the tasks being performed byindividuals within the enterprise. Such a system must also containabstract representations (relationship information or keys) of how allactivities relate to each other and to various strategies, products,projects, subprojects, and tasks of the enterprise, and to the peoplethat are responsible for performing them.

For instance, an enterprise's strategy may be to enter into the lightbulb manufacturing business. This could lead to the goal (or project) ofbuilding a state-of-the-art light bulb manufacturing facility,subprojects to evaluate construction bids and oversee the selectedcontractors, and tasks like manufacturing light bulbs. To successfullymanage information on this enterprise, an enterprise management systemmust connect information on each of the activities related to a strategywith information on a person that performs the activity. FIG. 2 is ablock diagram illustrating activity information 100 managed by thepreferred implementation of the present invention and theinterrelationship of the activity information 100. The activityinformation 100 includes groups of activity information data elements onstrategic plans 110, products 120, projects 130, subprojects 140, tasks150, and employees 160. Each of the strategic plans 110 includes data ona strategic plan of an enterprise. Likewise, each of the products 120includes data on a product of the enterprise; each of the projects 130includes data on a project of the enterprise; each of the subprojects140 includes data on subprojects of the enterprise; each of the tasks150 includes data on tasks of the enterprise; and each of the employees160 includes data on employees of the enterprise.

The arrows connecting the elements 110-160 show how the elements 110-160of activity information 100 can interrelate. As explained above,strategic planners make strategic plans 110, product managers identifyproducts 120, project managers identify projects 130, subprojects 140,and tasks 150, and assign employees 160 to perform the tasks. Of coursestrategic planners, product managers, and project managers are alsoemployees, only their tasks (i.e., developing strategic plans, products,projects, and subprojects) differ from the tasks performed by other,lower-level employees. This is why there are keys (or relationships)shown in FIG. 2 between employees 160 and all of the other elements110-150. Additionally, the arrows connecting the elements 110-160 areall two-headed arrows, which indicate many bidirectional relationshipsmay exist between the elements 110-160. Thus, information on twostrategic plans (represented by element 110) may relate to any singleproduct (represented by element 120) or to any single employee(represented by element 160).

For example, a change in information on a strategic plan 110, or theaddition of information on a new strategic plan 110, may affect none,one, many, or all of the other elements 120-160. Such a change oraddition may also affect none, one, many, or all of the other strategicplans 110. The same is true for the change of information or theaddition of information, on a new product, project, subproject, task, oremployee.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the preferred implementation of the presentinvention will be described. The present invention is implemented usinga central, relational database 200 and related processes to facilitatecommunication of information among employees 180 (including thestrategic planners, product managers, project managers, and lower-levelemployees). The related processes include the user interface 220,relationship manager 240, report generator 260, and other processingengines 280.

The present invention is implemented in a personal computer, forexample, IBM-compatible personal computer. As shown in FIG. 4, thepersonal computer 300 includes a keyboard/mouse 310, processor 320,display 330, and memory 340. The keyboard/mouse 310 can be any standardkeyboard and mouse connectable to the processor 320. The processor 320can be any standard and commonly known central processing unit (e.g.,80386 microprocessor manufactured by Intel Corporation of Dallas, Tex.,U.S.A.), and the display 330 can be any standard display connectable tothe processor 320. The memory 340 can include magnetic core,semiconductor RAM, magnetic disks, magnetic tapes, and other magneticand optical storage medium accessible by the processor 320.

The processor 320 is connected to the keyboard/mouse 310 for receivinginput from the keyboard/mouse 310. The processor 320 is connected to thedisplay 330 for presenting images on the display 330.

The memory 340 includes the database 200, user interface 220,relationship manager 240, and report generator 260. The memory 340 mayalso include other processing engines 280. The processor 320 operates byaccessing one or more of the user interface 220, relationship manager240, report generator 260, and other processing engines 280 at a time toretrieve instructions, which it then executes. During execution ofinstructions, the processor may also access the database 200 in additionto receiving input signals and presenting images.

The database 200 is a relational database that acts as a repository foractivity information 100, including activity information data elementsfor strategic plans 110, products 120, projects 130, subprojects 140,tasks 150, and employees 160. Not only does the database 200 store thesedata elements, but it also stores information on the relationshipbetween the data elements. The database 200 supports the manybidirectional relationships between the data elements on strategic plans110, products 120, projects 130, subprojects 140, tasks 150, andemployees 160, which was explained briefly with reference to FIG. 2.

The user interface 220 is preferably built with ACCESS™ (manufactured byMicrosoft Corporation of Seattle, Wash., U.S.A.) and enables users(e.g., employees 180 and systems managers) to view, access, retrieve,and manipulate activity information 100 stored in the database 200 usingthe relationship manager 240, report generator 260, and the otherprocessing engines 280. The user interface 220 uses standard SQL queriesthat are well known in the art.

The functions of the relationship manager 240 are not, however,conventional. The processor 320, using relationship manager 240, managesthe relationships between the information on activities stored in thedatabase 200. This includes permitting users to retrieve, add, modify,and delete activity information data elements on activities andrelationships between activities of an enterprise represented in thedatabase 200. These functions will be explained in detail below.

Using the report generator 260, the processor 320 enables users togenerate reports from activity information 100 stored in the database200. The reports may be custom made by the users, or a set of predefinedreports may be included with the report generator 260. The steps forgenerating custom-made or predefined reports are well known. Using theother processing engines 280 that include application programs, forexample, word processing programs and spread sheet programs, theprocessor 320 enables users to interface with the database 200 and usethe activity information 100 stored in the database 200. A user maycompose an article on activity information from the database 200 using aword processing system. The functions of the report generator 260 andprocessing engines 280, and the methods of performing these functions,are also conventional.

FIG. 5 illustrates examples of activity information data elements 400that may be stored in the database 200 of FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 5 showsthat the database 200 stores activity information data elements onstrategic plans (SP₁ 405 and SP₂ 410), products (PR₁ 415), projects (P₁420), subprojects (S₁ 425, S₂ 430, S₃ 435), tasks (T₁ 440, T₂ 445, T₃450), and employees (E₁ 455, E₂ 460). FIG. 5 also illustrates examplesof relationships between the data elements 400 on the strategic plans,products, projects, subprojects, tasks, and employees stored in database200. It is important to note that the activity information data elements400 do not rely on hierarchical constructs where strategic plan (SP)elements relate to one or more product (PR) elements that relate to oneor more project (P) elements that relate to one or more subproject (S)elements that relate to one or more task (T) elements that relate to oneor more employee (E) elements.

Rather, in the example activity information 400 shown in FIG. 5, thestrategic plan element SP₁ 405 relates to the project element P₁ 420that relates to the second strategic plan element SP₂ 410. SP₂ 410relates to the product element PR₁ 415 that relates to the subprojectelement S₃ 435. The strategic plan element SP₂ 410 relates to the taskelement T₁ 440 that relates to employee element E₁ 455. E₁ 455 relatesto the subproject element S₁ 425 that relates to task element T₃ 450. T₃450 relates to the task element T₂ 445 that relates to both employeeelement E₂ 460 and subproject element S₂ 430. It is apparent from thisexample of activity information data elements 400 that strategic planelements do not necessarily only relate directly to product elements,but they can also relate to project elements, subproject elements, taskelements, employee elements, as well as other strategic plan elements.Similarly, product elements may relate to any one or more of thefollowing: strategic plan elements, product elements, project elements,subproject elements, task elements, and employee elements. The remainingelements, projects, subprojects, tasks, and employees may also relate toany one or more of the following: strategic plan elements, productelements, project elements, subproject elements, task elements, andemployee elements. Thus, activity information data elements are storedin the database 200 using a non-hierarchical, entity relationship model,as opposed to the hierarchical models employed by conventional projectmanagement systems.

Referring to FIG. 6 the steps of the preferred process of therelationship manager 240 will now be explained. Using the user interface220, the user inputs requests via the keyboard/mouse for the processor320 to perform certain of the functions of the relationship manager 240.If the user asks the relationship manager 240 to add/modify informationon an activity in the database 200 (step 900), add/modify relationshipsbetween activities represented in the database 200 (step 910), deleteinformation on an activity in the database 200 (step 920), or deleterelationships between activities represented in the database 200 (step930), then the relationship manager 240 determines in step 940 whetherthe user is permitted to alter the database 200 in the manner requested.For example, in certain instances employees may not be permitted toalter activity information 100 and interrelationships stored in thedatabase 200, for example, strategic plans, and relationships betweenthose activities and other activities, for example, product informationrepresented in the database 200. However, other users, for example,enterprise managers, may require complete add/modify/delete access toall activity information 100 and interrelationships in the database 200.

If, in step 940, the relationship manager 240 determines that the useris not permitted to perform his/her request on the database 200, thenthe relationship manager 240 generates a message (step 960) informingthe user that the input request is not one that he/she is permitted toperform on the database 200 and displays the message on the display 330(step 980).

If the user is permitted to perform his/her request, the relationshipmanager 240 attempts to update the database 200 in accordance with theinput request (step 950). If the attempted update is not successful andthere is an error in updating the database 200 (step 955) then an errormessage is generated (step 957) and displayed on the display 33 (step980). If, however, the update step 950 is successfully completed withouterror (step 955), then the relationship manager 240 displays informationconfirming completion of the update (step 980).

If the input request merely asks for information on an activity storedin the database 200 or information on a relationship(s) of activitiesrepresented in the database 200 (step 970), then the relationshipmanager 240 simply displays the requested information (step 980).

In another implementation of the present invention, the database 200includes activity information 700 for only projects 130, subprojects140, tasks 150, and employees 160 data elements. This is illustrated inFIG. 7 along with keys showing the relationships between data theelements 130-160. This implementation operates in a manner similar tothe operation of the first-described implementation, only the database280 is different because it includes only projects 130, subprojects 140,tasks 150, and employees 160.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that the present inventiondescribed above overcomes problems and disadvantages of the prior art.They will also recognize that modifications and variations may be madeto this invention without departing from the spirit and scope of thegeneral inventive concept.

For example, each of the activity data elements of the activityinformation 100 may include additional data. The strategic plan dataelements 110 may also include financial data that may be used to comparefinancial data between different strategic plan data elements.

Further, there may be multiple relationships between data elements. Onesuch example would be an additional "reports to" relationship betweendifferent employee data elements 160. These "reports to" relationshipswould permit users to retrieve information on an enterprise'sorganizational structure. Another example of an additional key would bethe addition of a "critical path" relationship between task dataelements 150 and projects data elements 130, which would permit users toorder tasks within a project.

Also, it is possible to add additional activity information to thedatabase in the form of new groups of activity information dataelements.

This invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to thespecific details or representative methods shown and described.

We claim:
 1. A system for storing and maintaining informationrepresentative of activities of an enterprise, said systemcomprising:means for creating the information including project data,subproject data, task data, and employee data, wherein each of the dataincludes elements; means for storing the project data, the subprojectdata, the task data, and the employee data; means for creatingnonhierarchical relationship keys among the project data, the subprojectdata, the task data, and the employee data stored by the storing means,wherein the relationship keys relate elements of the project data toeach other or to elements of the subproject, task, and employee data,the relationship keys relate elements of the subproject data to eachother or to elements of the project, task, and employee data, therelationship keys relate elements of the task data to each other or toelements of the project, subproject, and employee data, and therelationship keys relate elements of the employee data to each other orto elements of the project, subproject, and task data; and means forupdating the project data, the subproject data, the task data, and theemployee data stored by the storing means and for updating therelationship keys among the project data elements, the subproject dataelements, the task data elements, and the employee data elements.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1 further comprising means for accessing the projectdata, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data storedby the storing means.
 3. A system for storing and maintaining activityinformation corresponding to activities of an enterprise, said systemcomprising:means for creating the activity information includingplanning data, product data, project data, subproject data, task data,and employee data, wherein each of the data includes elements; means forstoring the planning data, the product data, the project data, thesubproject data, the task data, and the employee data; means forcreating nonhierarchical relationship keys among the planning data, theproduct data, the project data, the subproject data, the task data, andthe employee data stored by the storing means, wherein the relationshipkeys relate elements of the planning data to each other or to elementsof the product, project, subproject, task, and employee data, therelationship keys relate elements of the product data to each other orto elements of the planning, project, subproject, task, and employeedata, the relationship keys relate elements of the project data to eachother or to elements of the planning, product, subproject, task, andemployee data, the relationship keys relate elements of the subprojectdata to each other or to elements of the planning, product, project,task, and employee data, the relationship keys relate elements of thetask data to each other or to elements of the planning, product,project, subproject, and employee data, and the relationship keys relateelements of the employee data to each other or to elements of theplanning, product, project, subproject, and task data; and means forupdating the planning data, the product data, the project data, thesubproject data, the task data, and the employee data stored by thestoring means and for updating the relationship keys among the planningdata elements, the product data elements, the project data elements, thesubproject data elements, the task data elements, and the employee dataelements.
 4. The system of claim 3 wherein the updating means includesmeans for accessing the planning data, the product data, the projectdata, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data storedby the storing means.
 5. The system of claim 3 wherein the relationshipkeys between the employee data and the task data are created such that aplurality of elements of employee data relate to a single element of thetask data.
 6. The system of claim 3 wherein the relationship keysbetween the task data and the subproject data are created such that aplurality of elements of task data relate to a single element of thesubproject data.
 7. The system of claim 3 wherein the relationship keysbetween the subproject data and the project data are created such that aplurality of elements of subproject data relate to a single element ofthe project data.
 8. The system of claim 3 wherein the relationship keysbetween the project data and the product data are created such that aplurality of elements of project data relate to a single element of theproduct data.
 9. The system of claim 3 wherein the relationship keysbetween the product data and the planning data are created such that aplurality of elements of product data relate to a single element of theplanning data.
 10. A system for storing and maintaining various activityinformation corresponding to activities of an enterprise, said memorysystem comprising:means for creating the activity information includingproject data elements, subproject data elements, task data elements, andemployee data elements; means for storing the project data elements, thesubproject data elements, the task data elements, and the employee dataelements; means for creating nonhierarchical relationship connectionsamong the project data elements, the subproject data elements, the taskdata elements, and the employee data elements stored by the storingmeans such that two or more of the employee data elements connect to asingle element of the task data elements and two or more of the taskdata elements connect to a single element of the subproject dataelements and two or more of the subproject data elements connect to asingle element of the project data elements; and means for updating theproject data, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee datastored by the storing means and for updating the relationshipconnections among the project data elements, the subproject dataelements, the task data elements, and the employee data elements.
 11. Acomputer-implemented method for holding and maintaining informationrepresentative of activities of an enterprise in a computer having amemory, and a microprocessor, said computer-implemented methodcomprising the steps of:creating the information including project data,subproject data, task data, and employee data, wherein each of the dataincludes elements; storing the project data, the subproject data, thetask data, and the employee data in the memory; creating nonhierarchicalrelationship keys among the project data, the subproject data, the taskdata, and the employee data stored by the memory, wherein therelationship keys relate elements of the project data to each other orto elements of the subproject, task, and employee data, the relationshipkeys relate elements of the subproject data to each other or to elementsof the project, task, and employee data, the relationship keys relateelements of the task data to each other or to elements of the project,subproject, and employee data, and the relationship keys relate elementsof the employee data to each other or to elements of the project,subproject, and task data; updating the project data, the subprojectdata, the task data, and the employee data stored by the memory; andupdating the relationship keys among the project data elements, thesubproject data elements, the task data elements, and the employee dataelements.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 furthercomprising the step of:accessing the project data, the subproject data,the task data, and the employee data stored by the storing means.
 13. Acomputer-implemented method for holding and maintaining activityinformation representative of activities of an enterprise in a computerhaving a memory, and a microprocessor, said computer-implemented methodcomprising the steps of:creating the activity information includingproject data elements, subproject data elements, task data elements, andemployee data elements; storing the project data elements, thesubproject data elements, the task data elements, and the employee dataelements in the memory; creating nonhierarchical relationshipconnections among the project data elements, the subproject dataelements, the task data elements, and the employee data elements storedby the memory such that two or more of the employee data elementsconnect to a single element of task data elements and two or more of thetask data elements connect to a single element of the subproject dataelements and two or more of the subproject data elements connect to asingle element of the project data elements; and updating the projectdata, the subproject data, the task data, and the employee data storedby the memory and for updating the relationship connections among theproject data elements, the subproject data elements, the task dataelements, and the employee data elements.